Meteos' transfer cause for controversy

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Published on: 03/07/2018

News recently broke that FlyQuest would be trading junglers with 100 Thieves, with AnDa moving into “100” and Meteos transferring to FQ. Currently, AnDa will play on the Thieves’ starting roster as their jungler, while Meteos will be sent to the bench with FlyQuest, acting as a substitute.

Why did the two organisations trade players?

According to a statement released by the 100 Thieves, Meteos lacked cohesion with other members on the team. This dissatisfaction was the primary reason why Meteos asked to be traded off the team, and was quickly transferred out to FlyQuest. It was also stated that the lack of chemistry between Meteos and the team was long standing, and previous efforts made by the Thieves to resolve the issue brought no effect.

100 Thieves stated that Meteos informed them that he wished to exit the team only a week ago. They were prompt to respond, discussing with various “potential trading partners around the league”, before settling with FlyQuest. While the discussions did include that Meteos should have “an opportunity” to compete for a starting position on FQ’s roster, there was no assurance of this.

Reason for controversy

Meteos revealed that there was a fair amount of “misinformation” regarding the transfer from the 100 Thieves to FlyQuest. He tweeted he would be releasing a video detailing his perspective on the situation. While it would be ideal, and much more ethical for the Thieves to fully inform Meteos of all details in the trade, they are not legally obliged to.

The most likely reason for Meteos’s dissatisfaction with the transfer is due to his inability to secure a starting position with his new team. While it is unfortunate, as failing to get proper stage time in the NA LCS will negatively impact his image and skill, the Thieves simply made a sound choice in the best interests of their team. Meteos did not have to create such drama, tweeting he had gotten “autofilled”, that said, the words have already been spoken.

Unlike what most spectators think, these trades are extremely common in sports and completely legal. Unless Meteos explicitly negotiated in his contract that he would be immune from being traded to other teams, almost all player contracts will contain a clause allowing organisations to trade off players. As a handful of comments had mentioned, Meteos, like all players have the option to negotiate with the team and include the clause to not be traded, but this would negatively impact his contract value.